Thursday, 06 December 2012

Tuck: Inaugural Forum focuses on corporate governance and leadership in a global world

A growing population, increasing shortages of resources, and national economies that are heavily in debt – the world is facing enormous challenges over the coming decades. Business is going to play a key role in solving these problems. “Never before, have companies and society been so closely connected,” says Pierre Tapie, President of the ESSEC Business School.

Together with Keio Business School in Tokyo, the School of Management of Fudan University in Shanghai, ESSEC Business School in France and the Business School of the University of Mannheim, Tuck forged an alliance of leading business schools from all parts of the world. (CouncilOnBusinessAndSociety.com) The alliance has a clear goal: to debate central economic and societal questions of the future, and to develop problem-solving approaches, while embedding them in research and education. More than 200 high-profile professors, business representatives, and students from the home countries of the five alliance partners participated in the first Forum and the focus was on questions that are both current and controversial: How can we best shape corporate governance? How should business leaders deal with the increased scrutiny of corporate actions? And what solutions exist for the tension-laden issue of balancing profitability with responsibility to multiple stakeholders?

These are topics that will have an impact on the education of future managers as well. A study conducted amongst graduate students at the five cooperating business schools shows that future leaders in the United States already regard ethical conduct as one of the most important qualities of a successful top manager. Internationally, this attribute ranks second to competence in financial questions, but ahead of both strategic orientation and the ability to motivate employees...